Blackout

Title                      : Blackout

Name of author: Lydia Mensah

Number of pages:   nine

Word count        :   2115

In a busy city of Accra, everyone ran helter skelter doing some kind of business; either they were selling, riding in their cars, buying, cooking, or having a serious meeting in their offices. Mary sat in her office thinking about what she would be doing in the house when she closed from work. The traffic jam back to her house would be terrible and she was not familiar with alternative routes. All she had to do was think hard on her own. Her husband had told her about the app, which could show her the best routes; but she was not interested in it. She loved the same old way. She felt it was the best and argued her way out, not knowing that she was doing herself great harm. The meeting with her boss and colleagues had just ended and the security men would soon lock the doors. It was already five p.m. in the evening.

“Mary. Remember to put off the computer before you leave. You cannot always trust that you would have light throughout the night.” Said her boss. She thought he was being fussy and brushed off his instruction.

I will come early in the morning and take care of that. She said to herself. She liked doing the opposite of what everyone said, a very bad habit it was. It had gotten her into trouble several times but she would not learn from it. Her boss had ordered for a backup systems unit but she spent the money on something else and left her computer wanting. She believed she would always be there to put her own computer off. As she drove through the heavy traffic, she was pleased to be doing some sightseeing. Along the towns near the beach, she watched children wearing only their singlets and running around. It reminded her so much of the time when her children were this young. Other children were also having their baths shamelessly in the streets as if they had no bathrooms in their homes, and indeed, they didn’t.

In this day and age? She said to herself. She hadn’t seen anything yet.

Yes. Not everyone had metamorphosed like she had. People were still living their old way of life and enjoying it to the fullest. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise.

Everyone screamed in unison. What could possibly be the problem? It was lights out. The streets were dark. This power outage was rather unprecedented and came at a very bad time.

She switched on her car lights, for which the people on the streets were very grateful. It was however short lived because she passed through in about thirty minutes and was not sure how often other cars used that route. She was listening to a drive time evening show on the radio in her car and they showed her how quickly she could get home using the streets that were free from traffic jams. Someone suddenly broke her car window and snatched the tablet she had place in her front passenger seat. She was petrified. She was in the wrong place and could not speed up. She could knock a child and commuters down if she did. She rolled her windows up and continued her journey with caution.

Suddenly, she heard a loud noise. ‘Pow!’ It went. What could it be? Her car grinded to a halt. Two men stood in front of her car asked her to declare everything she had as others stood aloof, doing nothing. They actually thought she had stopped to give them a lift. After she had done what they expected her to do, they allowed her to go. Was this the normal practice around this place? She would never use that route again. Her husband called her phone. A man picked it up. Was she with a man? Why had he been so confident to pick it up, then? No. Mary was a faithful wife and would do no such thing.

“Wrong number!” the person said, and he heard nothing from him afterwards. No one answered the next few calls and then it went off all of a sudden. It said she was not available, then it said she was busy, then it said she had switched it off. Mary would do no such thing. She got down at the nearest police station and reported the incident.

“Madam. Sorryoooo….please don’t ply that route again. There are dangerous criminals over there; and if you have to do so by all means, have someone with you so you would be safer. For now, we cannot help you much.” The officer on duty said.

How could they be so casual about such a serious issue? She however realised that even in the police station, they were using candles and torches. They had not yet been graced by technology which made life easier.

She drove gingerly back home only to realise that it was a national blackout, temporary though, but very disastrous for herself, her home and office. She would not be able to watch her favourite programme on TV as usual and she would have to warm her food in the old way. Her husband was waiting, unsure whether to query her or not. He would wait to hear what she had to say first.

“My! I didn’t know there were still some criminals out there! I thought the patrol teams were doing their job very well? Did you not notice that I did not have my gadgets with me?” she asked him, concerned that he was as silent as a mouse.

“That explains it. I called you to find out what was going on.” He said, relieved.

“And what happened?” she asked, eager to know who had her latest Samsung phone.

“Somebody. A man, I should say, picked it up, and said: wrong number! For a moment, I thought you were being unfaithful.” He confessed.

“My Goodness! Daryl! Do you not trust me? Why would I do so? After so many years with you? Come on!” Daryl was sorry he had thought that way about his wife, but he was only speculating. There was no harm in doing so.

“Anyway, I’m famished and so are the children. I couldn’t warm the food as usual. Could you find a way of presenting us with a meal for the night?” he asked.

“Sure! I dread driving at this time so I may try trekking to see how best and fast I can get you some food.” She said. Mary took the torch from her husband and was soon in the streets looking for some food to buy.

She quickly went to the ‘kelewele’ woman she always bought some seasoned fried plantain from when she needed a quick fix. She only wondered whether the others would like it.

“Madam. I’m sure the power outage has brought you here at this unholy hour. I have had several customers today so I do not have any for you. I am so sorry about that.” She said remorsefully.

“Oh! Don’t worry. I guess you did your normal amount today. It happens sometimes.” She said to her, consoling her, leaving a clear message that she should sometimes prepare for the unexpected. A little over the normal would do sometimes. She walked away from her, disappointed. The kenkey seller however had so many customers that she began to smile at Mary when she grew closer.

“I saw you from afar so I did the usual for you and if you want more, I’ll gladly do that for you.” She said.

“Certainly, I would like to have more. We have a full house this evening and we want some hot food” she said gratefully. Madam Asabea prepared a token for her and wrapped it in a transparent rubber and then placed them carefully in the black polythene bag and handed it over to her grateful customer.

“Sleep well and remember us who make it possible for you to survive tough times like these.” She added.

“I will. Thank you very much.” She replied. It was extremely dark as she walked back home. For a moment, she wished she had asked either Daryl or Ewura Adwoa, her first born to come along with her. The rubber seemed too heavy for her to carry alone.

“Can I help you?” said a stranger. As she turned, she was startled to see a hungry man looking up at her.

“No thank you. I’m fine.” She replied.

“Can I have some?” he asked. Mary did not have much time to think about the hungry. She was too much in a hurry to get home.

“I’m sorry but I can arrange for you to have some.” She offered. “Madam Akora. Can you please give this man two cedis worth of kenkey and four cedis worth of fish? I’ll have to hurry home.” She requested. Madam Akora sized the man up as if she knew his ulterior motives. Those men were pickpockets who hanged around to take from unsuspecting victims. When the man had finished eating, Madam Akora said: “I hope you have not done her in. I will expose you if you do so.” The man was terrified and he walked swiftly away from her. Mary walked gingerly back home, afraid of her own shadow.

“This is a total disaster, Daryl. I was telling you we needed a generator yesterday.” She said.

“I didn’t see the need for it, but now, I do. It seems had I known is always at last.” They ate in silence and could hear each person chewing at the bones. They were really famished.

“Ewura Adwoa. Wash the plates so we can go to bed.” She asked her daughter.

“At this time, Mummy? It’s nine thirty.” She complained.

“Yes, and very boring and dark. We will not be able to charge our phones. We need to preserve our power.” She explained.

“So Mummy. You never bought the power bank? I told you so.” She said. Mary knew her love for the old ways must surely come to an end after this day. She began to think about the computer she had left hibernating. By now, it was consuming all the power left in it. She had no backup. She would have trouble with it the next day. All her files and programmes might no longer be safe.

She could not sleep throughout the night. It was the same for Daryl and the children. They could not switch on the air condition as usual. It was the most eventful night ever. The whole family trooped to the sitting room and cuddled together so they would have a little sleep to make up for all the time they were up sweating. Mary opened all the curtains in the living room to allow fresh air in. Mary and her family could not wake up early the next morning. Daryl could not iron his clothes and it was so for Mary too.

“We must learn to iron all our clothes for the week so we don’t get caught in this anymore.” She said.

“Had I known, is always at last indeed.” Said Daryl. Daryl stepped out of the house, collecting everyone’s attire for the day. He went to Mr. Asare’s house close by. He had a generator and was willing to help him.

“I’m so sorry about this situation. I hope by evening our power supply would have been restored.” He said.

“I just hope our bosses will not fire us for coming late to work.” Daryl said.

“Who would do that? That would be very wicked of him. We could send him to court for that.” He said.

“Woooo…woooo…woooo…it shouldn’t come to that?” he said with trepidation.

“So every boss must put himself in his employees’ shoes and pardon everyone who falls foul of the rules.” He said, shrugging.

Mary’s boss got wind of what she had done and put her on probation for two weeks whilst the board reviewed her action. She refunded the money she kept and the company reinstated her. The company bought her another tablet, a phone, and a power bank. She also did well to provide her family with a personal power bank so they could use it during such emergencies.

Daryl purchased a generator and had it fixed as soon as possible. She set up a philanthropic organization that sponsored quizzes for schoolchildren, their prizes being laptops, tablets, and phones to help take the minds of the aggressive youth off unprofitable activities.